Lights out for Division 2!

Both test races are done, Division 1 already held of it’s first round – now it’s time for the 911 Cup, Touring Classics and the M235i class to pick up the pace.Tim Koch clinched overall pole with a 8:12.141, leaving Dima Bugaev (+00.847) and Radek Pawlaczek (+04.147) behind. It was again Gianni Nicosia in his Audi who set the pace for the Touring Classics – cars, with splitting up the 911 Cup grid again. Leon Harhoff in a Opel and Chris Schulze’s Mercedes lined up behind. After a screaming finish in the test race it weren’t Ortner and Honzik who fought for pole in the M235i class: Richard Schäfer took pole in the BMW-powered class with Benedikt Kürsch and John Dalton in his mirrors. One minute after qualifying we went green in the 911 Cup class – Tim Koch got a very clean start and was able to maintain his lead, while Dima Bugaev and Radek Pawlaczek both lost places with Lukas Kolb pushing himself up to P2. The start for the Touring Classics was a tumultuous one as Leon Harhoff managed to get a better start than Gianni Nicosia, who missed his braking point in Turn 1 and went wide, but he was able to regain the lead before the field entered the Nordschleife. Chris Schulze on P3 stalled his car on the start and neglected a good position. The for good and close racing known M235i class saw a clean start from everybody, Kürsch was able to gain the lead before Turn 1 and pulled away.Dima Bugaev needed one lap to indemnify Kolb’s pass at the start and instantly drove out a gap to start the hunt for P1. In the Touring Classics class it didn’t seem to a easy day for Gianni Nicosia as Harhoff started to increase the pressure. In M235i we saw Ortner and Honzik rolling up the field from behind. The fields in every class started to split up and we saw a lot of little battles across our holy Nordschleife, without any major incidents.With all stops done and 30 minutes to go it was Dima Bugaev who was able to take the lead in mid-race, but the luck wasn’t on his side this day and unfortunately he got a connection error, which left Tim Koch in overall lead. Ortner and Honzik fought their way up to P5 and P6, but leader Benedikt Kürsch was too far away. Gianni Nicosia activated the “power-know” and managed to build a 30 second – gap on his follower.

After 1,5h it was Tim Koch who crossed the line in P1. Pawlaczek took the chequer 41 seconds after him. Christoph Duerselen completed the 911 Cup – podium.Another stellar drive from Gianni Nicosia delivered him the win in the first round, with a 1 minute – gap to Leon Harhoff, followed by Benjamin de Groot, who literally sneaked his way up to P3.M235i saw another good and action filled race: Benedikt Kürsch wins the M235i class. We saw another close finish between Ortner and Honzik, who caught up to Hackl. But a mistake in Hohenrain costed the Sector3-dev a better position – Hackl overcame the pressure from Honzik.